Paris Perspective #33: Global crises and the International Rescue Committee - David Miliband

In this edition of Paris Perspective, RFI's David Coffey meets former UK foreign secretary and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, to discuss the crises the world is facing in 2022 and what his NGO is doing to help millions of refugees and internally displaced.

Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has sent grain prices sky-rocketing and further highlighted the fragility of the supply chain, with food insecurity in developing countries of particular concern.

A succession of failed rains and subsequent drought has plunged East Africa into near-famine conditions, while Afghanistan's economy has collapsed since the Taliban took over in August 2021, with almost the entire population now living below the poverty line. 

During a recent visit to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, emphasised that Afghanistan is the worst of the crises that feature on the NGO's "Emergency Watchlist".

Women's rights under the draconian rule of the Taliban are of particular concern. Miliband's organisation has some 7,000 local staff working in the country in the wake of the withdrawal of the US-led military coalition last year. 

Afghanistan's economic collapse

Miliband chooses his words carefully when he explains, "it's easier in some ways to do humanitarian work in Afghanistan today, than it was two or three years ago.

"Why? Well, there isn't a war going on. So it's actually safer in one way. Now, it's less safe if you are a vocal opponent of the regime. And it's less safe or less free, if you're a woman."

Miliband says that around 45 percent of the IRC staff working in the country are women, delivering treatment to the malnourished, education – including for girls – as well as livelihood support.

"What we're facing is an economic meltdown. The war economy is over, but a new economy has not been built. They've been given a crash course in administration, in establishing a new, much poorer equilibrium.

"And that's how you end up with this extraordinary statistic ...The United Nations says that 97 percent of Afghans are living below the poverty line." 

He underlines, however, that the statistic is a measurement of the formal economy, accepting that there is a large informal economy in the country. 

As CEO of the International Rescue Committee, Miliband laments the fact that Afghans are being punished twice over since assets were frozen by the US following the fall of Kabul. 

As the economy is in freefall, Miliband underlines, "they didn't choose their government, but they're being punished for their government in a way that doesn't actually help them."

Paris Perspective #31: War, peace and the future of the global economy – Steve Killelea Paris Perspective #14: The fall of Kabul and new world order - Gérard Chaliand

Founded in the fight against fascism

So what is the International Rescue Committee and what work does it do? What drew Miliband to join the organisation, touted as "the most under-recognised yet influential non-governmental aid group in the world," when he left UK politics behind? 

The International Rescue Committee, headquartered in New York has its origins in Europe, and was founded by Albert Einstein in the 1930s.

"He was consumed by a sense of guilt," Miliband explains "and fear about what was happening in Europe, the rise of the Nazis, the threats to Jews, to intellectuals, to dissidents, and he effectively set up the IRC in order to rescue people from Europe.

"Our first employee was a man called Varian Fry, he set up a safe house in Marseille, he issued 2000 fake passports and people like Marc Chagall lived because they were helped to escape from Nazi-occupied France by the IRC or its founders," explains Miliband.

According to the former foreign secretary, that spirit of humanity, entrepreneurialism and of risk taking remains part of the lifeblood of the organisation: "We help people whose lives are shattered by conflict, persecution and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their lives.

"Why did that attract me? Very briefly, one – I like hard problems and these are tough cases. Two – not many people knew about the IRC, and it had a responsibility in 2013 when I joined, to step up as an organisation that was focused on these problems. Thirdly – my parents were refugees. So there's a sense of the closing of a circle really, to work in this area," he confides.

Food insecurity is nothing new

In 2022, the repercussions of Russia's "special operation" in Ukraine have shaken the global economy to its foundations, with Moscow's strangulation of Ukraine's grain exports and the shutting down of Russian energy supplies to Europe having knock-on effects across the planet. 

For Miliband, however, the Ukraine war didn't create a food crisis, it has just exacerbated a precarious situation that already existed. 

He says that there were135 million people at acute levels of food insecurity – two steps below famine level – three years ago.

"Now it's 345 million," Miliband explains, "in part, driven by Covid and then by the Ukraine crisis and the effect on grain prices. So it's important to understand what the problem is to develop a solution.

"We're saying we've got to do two things. One – we got to treat the symptoms. The US delivered $1.1 billion of commitment in July, to mitigate the worst effects of the crisis for the 35 million people at the door of famine in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. We've got to treat child malnutrition much better – 80 percent of acutely malnourished kids don't get any help at all at the moment.

"We can't as an international agency affect the global food system. But we can argue for and invest in, for example, climate resilient agriculture, because Africa should be feeding more of its own people.

"But that takes investment. That takes account of the dangers of the climate crisis, which is here. Now I often hear people say, 'Oh, well, better to feed people now ... we'll deal with the climate crisis in 40 years time'. The climate crisis is here now," he concludes.

David Miliband is the UK former foreign secretary and CEO of the International Rescue Committee based in New York.